Receiving and Reporting Page-Specific User Feedback Concerning One or More Particular Web Pages of a Website

ABSTRACT

A method for receiving page-specific user feedback concerning a particular web page of a website includes using a comment icon viewable on the page to solicit one or more page-specific open-ended comments concerning the page from a user. In one embodiment, the method includes using software associated with the comment icon to automatically communicate a request for a comment window to a remote computer system that is separate from a computer system hosting the website in response to the user selecting the comment icon, receive the comment window from the remote computer system, present the comment window to the user, and receive one or more or more page-specific open-ended comments concerning the page from the user provided using the comment window for reporting to a website owner. In another embodiment, the method includes using software associated with the icon and incorporated into a computer system of the user for purposes of research concerning one or more particular web pages to determine a page identifier of the page in response to the user accessing the page and receive the page-specific user feedback concerning the page from the user for reporting in association with the determined page identifier of the page to an entity sponsoring the research.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.10/210,256, filed Jul. 31, 2002, entitled “Receiving and ReportingPage-Specific User Feedback Concerning One or More Particular Web Pagesof a Website,” which is currently pending.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates in general to communications and moreparticularly to receiving and reporting page-specific user feedbackconcerning one or more particular web pages of a website.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many website owners desire information concerning usage of theirwebsites. For example, an Internet website owner might use a third partyservice to track the number of users that visit its website, the numberof “clicks” these users collectively perform (using their mousepointers) while visiting the website, and how long these users stay atthe website. Using this objective information, the website owner maydetermine that its website is not attracting a sufficient number ofusers or has been ineffective at keeping the interest of users once theyarrive. The website owner may respond accordingly to improve itswebsites and, possibly, the success of its associated businessoperations.

Previous techniques for obtaining information concerning usage ofwebsites often do not provide website owners with information about howusers subjectively react to their websites, making the information ofminimal value. Prior techniques that do solicit user feedback do so withrespect to transactions carried out using the website, but not withrespect to the website itself. These techniques give website ownerslittle if any information concerning feedback from users concerningparticular pages of their websites. Moreover, website owners are givenlittle if any information about how users experience their websites asthe users navigate through them, moving from page to page according tothe topography of the websites. Even techniques that request users toprovide feedback concerning transactions may be relatively difficult touse, obtrusive, unstandardized, or otherwise deficient in some mannerthat causes them to be seldom used and therefore ineffective. Theinformation reported to website owners may also be ineffective due tothe format in which it is provided, for example, in reports that aredifficult to interpret and do not allow useful comparisons to be made.These and other disadvantages make prior techniques inadequate for manywebsite owners.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Particular embodiments of the present invention may reduce or eliminateproblems and disadvantages associated with previous techniques forreceiving and reporting user feedback concerning one or more particularweb pages of a website.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for receivingpage-specific user feedback concerning a particular web page of awebsite includes using a comment icon viewable on the particular webpage to solicit one or more page-specific open-ended comments concerningthe particular web page from a user that has accessed the particular webpage. The method includes using software associated with the commenticon to, in response to the user selecting the comment icon,automatically communicate a request for a comment window to a remotecomputer system that is separate from a computer system hosting thewebsite. The comment window allows the user to provide the one or morepage-specific open-ended comments concerning the particular web page.The method includes using the software to receive the comment windowfrom the remote computer system, present the comment window to the user,and receive the one or more or more page-specific open-ended commentsconcerning the particular web page from the user for reporting to awebsite owner. The one or more page-specific open-ended commentsconcerning the particular web page are provided using the commentwindow.

In another embodiment, a method for receiving page-specific userfeedback concerning one or more particular web pages of a websiteincludes using an icon viewable on the particular web page to solicitpage-specific user feedback concerning the particular web page from auser that has accessed the particular web page according to aninstruction to access the particular web page. The method includes usingsoftware associated with the icon and incorporated into a computersystem of the user for purposes of research concerning one or moreparticular web pages to determine a page identifier of the particularweb page in response to the user accessing the particular web page andreceive the page-specific user feedback concerning the particular webpage from the user for reporting in association with the determined pageidentifier of the particular web page to an entity sponsoring theresearch.

Particular embodiments of the present invention may provide one or moretechnical advantages. In particular embodiments, user feedbackconcerning particular pages of a website or an electronic mail (e-mail)message may be measured using software for measuring such feedback thatmay be readily identifiable (by one or more associated icons), easy touse, and unobtrusive. In particular embodiments, for example, a userneed not separately download any software and open a new window in abrowser of the user. As a result, valuable information may be readilycompiled (including feedback concerning particular pages and other datathat may be correlated to such feedback) and the likelihood of usersproviding such information may be substantially high in comparison withprevious techniques. Additionally, software for measuring user feedbackmay, in particular embodiments, be easily incorporated into existingpages of a website or an e-mail message, which may reduce costs anddelays typically associated with rewriting software code for the pages.These and other advantages may contribute to such feedback measurementsoftware (and associated icons) becoming a standard across the entirecommunity of Internet users.

In particular embodiments, one or more comments, answers to explicitquestions, and subjective ratings concerning a particular page of awebsite or an e-mail message may be solicited from a user in anysuitable combination. In particular embodiments, different questions maybe associated with different web pages across a website including anumber of web pages or an e-mail message including a number of pages. Inparticular embodiments, a user may be encouraged or even required toprovide one or more subjective ratings concerning a particular page toprovide one or more comments concerning the page. Such page-specificsubjective ratings may make such comments more useful to a website owneror e-mail sender. In particular embodiments, background data reflectingone or more details of a computer system of a user, a web session of theuser, or both may be obtained from the user in connection with the userproviding one or more page-specific comments concerning a particularpage. Such data may similarly make such comments more useful to awebsite owner or e-mail sender.

In particular embodiments, a user may provide one or more commentsconcerning a page of a website or an e-mail message using a commentwindow that is generated by a computer system remote from the user andsubsequently communicated to a computer system of the user. This mayallow a website owner to customize the comment window without modifyingthe page. In particular embodiments, a website owner or e-mail sendermay customize a comment window in a number of ways, which may includespecifying one or more explicit questions presented to users in thecomment window or making any other suitable customizations. Inparticular embodiments, a website owner or e-mail sender may test acustomized comment window before committing one or more customizationsmade by the website owner or e-mail sender.

Particular embodiments may enable a website owner or researcher actingon behalf of a website owner to conduct research related to one or moreweb pages of one or more websites. Particular embodiments may similarlyenable law enforcement or regulatory personnel to conduct investigationsconcerning one or more owners of one or more websites. In particularembodiments, such research or investigations may be conducted withoutinvolving the owners of the websites and possibly without such ownerseven being made aware of such research or investigations.

Particular embodiments may provide reports to a website owner or e-mailsender that reflect a wealth of previously unavailable informationconcerning particular pages of a website or e-mail message and yet maybe readily interpreted to allow useful comparisons among such pages.Moreover, particular embodiments may allows a website owner to accessreports reflecting user feedback in much the same way a user mightnavigate from one page of a website to another page of the websiteaccording to the topography of the website. This may give the websiteowner additional valuable information providing a basis for decisionsconcerning the website. Particular embodiments may communicate to aparticular e-mail address at particular times particular reportsreflecting particular pages of a website or e-mail message. This may beuseful, for example, where a website owner includes an organization thatincludes a number of different people having different responsibilitiesconcerning a website. In particular embodiments, reports communicated toa website owner or e-mail sender may be filtered according to suitablefilter criteria such that they reflect only particular user feedback,which may help the website owner or e-mail sender focus its attention toaddressing particular feedback.

These and other advantages may make the system and method of the presentinvention well suited for used in modern Internet and other environmentsin which users access websites, receive e-mail, or both. Certainembodiments may provide all, some, or none of these technicaladvantages, and certain embodiments may provide one or more othertechnical advantages which may be readily apparent to those skilled inthe art from the figures, descriptions, and claims included herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To provide a more complete understanding of the present invention andfeatures and advantages thereof, reference is made to the followingdescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system for measuring and reporting userfeedback to particular web pages of a website;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example web page incorporating a user feedbackmeasurement tool;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example web page incorporating a general feedbackmeasurement tool;

FIG. 4 illustrates another example general feedback measurement tool;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example web page incorporating a specific feedbackmeasurement tool;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example combined general feedback measurement tooland specific feedback measurement tool;

FIG. 7 illustrates an example web page for registering a user;

FIGS. 8A and 8B illustrate example site level reports;

FIG. 9 illustrates an example page level report;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example method of incorporating a user feedbackmeasurement tool into particular web pages of a website;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example method of measuring a user's feedback toparticular web pages of a website; and

FIG. 12 illustrates an example method of reporting on user feedback toparticular web pages of a website.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 10 for measuring and reporting onuser feedback concerning particular web pages associated with a websiteusing one or more feedback measurement tools that are incorporated intoand viewable on the pages. As described more fully below, in oneembodiment, the feedback measurement tools are standardized across someor all of the web pages, are readily identifiable by users of the pages,and are intuitive, predictable, and easy for the users to use inproviding feedback concerning the pages. As a result, these measurementtools provide a number of important technical advantages over previoustechniques for measuring user input, which may merely measure and reportwebsite usage information or user feedback concerning transactionsrather than user feedback on a page by page basis. Such systems aretherefore incapable of providing meaningful feedback to website ownersregarding the “topography” of their websites; that is, which of possiblynumerous pages of a website have been rated particularly successful orunsuccessful in the eyes of users of the website as those users navigatethrough the pages of the website according their particular needs. Thesystem and method of the present invention address these and otherdeficiencies.

Although the present invention is described primarily in connection withthe measurement and reporting of user feedback concerning one or moreparticular pages of one or more websites, the present invention may besimilarly applied in connection with polling, surveying, productdevelopment research, market research, usability testing,business-to-consumer (B2C) commercial transactions, business-to-business(B2B) commercial transactions, or any other suitable activity for whichthe measurement and reporting of user responses may be desirable. Thoseskilled in the art will readily appreciate the application of thepresent invention to such activities based on these figures,descriptions, and claims.

System 10 includes a website owner 12, a web server 14, one or morewebsite users 16, and a reporting server 18 coupled to one another usingnetwork 20, which may be any suitable local area network (LAN),metropolitan area network (MAN), wide area network (WAN), a globalcommunications network such as the Internet, or any other suitablenetwork. Although owner 12, server 14, users 16, and server 18 aredescribed as coupled using a single network 20, the present inventioncontemplates multiple networks 12 of the same type or different types tocouple these components to one another, according to particular needs.Owner 12 and users 16 may each be autonomous computer systems or mayreceive appropriate input from one or more associated persons. Servers14 and 18 may include software operating on one or more computer systems22 and 24, respectively, at one or more locations. Owner 12, server 14,and server 18 may operate on at least one shared computer system. Thecomputer systems associated with owner 12, user 16, server 14, andserver 18 include input devices, output devices, processors, memories,and other components suitable for the features and operation describedbelow.

Web server 14 hosts or otherwise supports at least one website 26including one or more pages 28. Although pages 28 are describedprimarily as web pages 28 associated with a typical website 26, thepresent invention contemplates measuring and reporting user feedbackconcerning files, documents, or any other formatted information.Moreover, although a single website 26 for a single owner 12 isdescribed in detail, server 14 may support one or more websites 26 foreach of multiple owners 12. In general, using an associated web browseror other software component, the user 16 provides a uniform resourcelocator (URL) or other electronic address to establish a connection toserver 14 and access a particular page 28 associated with website 26.Server 14 communicates the requested page 28 to user 16 using network20, user 16 receives page 28, and the user 16 views or otherwiseprocesses page 28 according to the user's particular needs. User 16 willtypically provide one or more additional URLs during a single browsersession to access additional pages 28 associated with website 26,navigating through the topography of website 26 according to particularneeds. Multiple users 16 may access a single page 28 substantiallysimultaneously. The present invention contemplates one or more websiteusers 16 accessing one or more pages 28 of website 26 in any suitablemanner during one or more browser sessions.

Each user 16 may have an opinion, assessment, feeling, or othersubjective reaction to each page 28 communicated to the user 16, eitherin its entirety or more specifically to the format, content, design, oranother characteristic associated with page 28. For example only and notby way of limitation, user 16 may consider a particular page 28 helpful,informative, understandable, humorous, or may otherwise have a positiveor favorable reaction to page 28, generally or with respect to one ormore specific aspects of page 28. Alternatively, for example and withoutlimitation, user 16 may consider a particular page unhelpful,uninformative, confusing, boring, or may otherwise have a negative orunfavorable reaction to page 28, generally or with respect to one ormore specific aspects of page 28. The strength of this subjectivereaction, whether positive or negative, may vary from mild to verystrong. Rather than having a positive or negative reaction, user 16 mayhave a neutral reaction to page 28. Moreover, the subjective reaction ofuser 16 to page 28, generally or as to specific aspects, may bedifferent from the subjective reaction of user 16 to other pages 28 orto website 26 in its entirety. Feedback from a user 16 concerning a page28 may reflect one or more reactions of user 16 to page 28 and may,where appropriate, include ratings, comments (which may includequalitative statements concerning page 28), answers to explicitquestions (whether or not the subject of the question is related in somemanner to page 28), or any other suitable general or specific userfeedback concerning page 28.

According to the present invention, feedback from users 16 concerningone or more particular pages 28 of website 26 are measured and compiledto allow system 10 to provide valuable information to owner 12concerning the topography of website 26; that is, particular pages 28and specific aspects of those particular pages 28 that have beensuccessful or unsuccessful in the eyes of users 16 as users 16 navigatethrough pages 28 of the website 26. In one embodiment, server 14supports a user feedback measurement tool 30 that is incorporated intopages 28 and may be communicated to user 16 with page 28 in response touser 16 requesting page 28.

As described below with reference to FIGS. 2 through 6, the tool 30 ispreferably incorporated into page 28, both as a viewable icon and assuitable software components, in a manner that does not conflict withthe existing design or coding of page 28. In a particular embodiment,tool 30 includes software code incorporated into the Hypertext MarkupLanguage (HTML), Extensible Markup Language (XML), or other softwarecode of page 28. Tool 30 also includes one or more JAVASCRIPTS, or othersuitable scripts, that may be stored in a dedicated or other suitabledirectory. In the particular embodiment, the software code incorporatedinto page 28 calls the script in response to the user 16 selecting anicon associated with tool 30 to provide feedback. Tool 30 may beincorporated into one or more pages 28 of website 26, directly orindirectly such as through a call to a script within a dedicateddirectory, in any appropriate manner without departing from the intendedscope of the present invention. In response to user 16 accessing theassociated page 28, the incorporated software code and the directorycontaining the script are communicated with page 28 to user 16. Unlessotherwise specified or appropriate, a reference to tool 30 is meant toinclude reference to the viewable icon, the script and its directory,the call to the script incorporated into the code of page 28, and anyother components of tool 30, singly or in any combination. In oneembodiment, the tool 30 continues to execute on the computer system ofuser 16, with associated page 28, until user 16 provides feedback orcloses the user's web browser.

As described more fully below with reference to FIGS. 2 through 6, tool30 may include a general feedback measurement tool 32 for measuringgeneral feedback from user 16 concerning the associated page 28, forexample only and not by way of limitation, according to a multi-level oranother suitable subjective rating scale. Also as described more fullybelow with reference to FIGS. 2 through 6, instead of or in addition togeneral feedback measurement tool 32, tool 30 may include a specificfeedback measurement tool 34 for measuring feedback from user 16concerning one or more selected aspects of page 28, according to thesame or a different subjective rating scale as for tool 32. For exampleand without limitation, tool 34 may measure feedback from user 16concerning the content, design, usability, or any other suitable aspectof page 28, singly or in any combination. Feedback measured using tool30, 32, or 34 may include responses to one or more explicit questionsposed to user 16 concerning page 28, concerning one or more visual,audible, or other elements of page 28, concerning one or more items withwhich page 28 is logically associated, or concerning any other suitablesubject. As described more fully below, tools 30, 32, and 34 may allow auser 16 to provide comments or access additional information concerningthe rating scale, tool 30, 32, or 34, website 26, owner 12, or any otherappropriate aspect of system 10. Feedback and related input receivedfrom users 16 may be stored temporarily on the computer system of user16, within tool 30, or at another suitable location before beingcommunicated to server 18 for storage within database 36, which mayinclude one or more data storage locations integral to or separate fromcomputer system 24.

In one embodiment, feedback measurement tool 30 includes registrationmodule 38 for collecting appropriate demographic or any other suitableinformation associated with user 16. Using such demographic information,feedback from user 16 concerning pages 28 may be categorized andanalyzed to obtain further information that may be valuable to owner 12or to others. Not only can demographic information be correlated to userfeedback, but the linking between demographic information and userfeedback may be used to determine additional information about thecorrelation between user feedback and other metrics. For example, system10 or another system may collect website traffic data, along withdemographic information requested from website visitors, such that thetraffic data may be correlated with the demographic data. System 10 maycollect user feedback data, along with demographic information requestedfrom users 16, such that the user feedback data may be correlated withthe demographic data. Since in this example both the website trafficdata and the user feedback data are correlated with demographicinformation, the traffic data and user feedback data may be correlatedwith one another to provide owner 12 or others with potentially valuableinformation. It may also be desirable to present the traffic data anduser feedback data together in an integrated fashion, with or withoutthe linking demographic information, using a single “dashboard” or othersuitable visual display. Any set of two or more metrics may becorrelated in an analogous manner, using a common link to demographic orother suitable compiled information, and presented together using asingle visual display.

As described more fully below with reference to FIG. 7, the registrationmodule 38 may be implemented using a registration page or pop-up windowthat is presented to a user 16 at least the first time the user 16selects tool 30 to provide feedback concerning a page 28 of website 26.The demographic information received from users 16 is communicated toserver 18 for storage in database 40, which may include one or more datastorage locations integral to or separate from database 36 and computersystem 24. This demographic information may be accessible to users 16,with appropriate password protection, to allow the users 16 to add to,delete, or modify some or all of their associated demographicinformation, as appropriate. Alternatively, users 16 might communicateappropriate modifications, using e-mail for example, to a personresponsible for implementing such modifications. Although a particularregistration procedure is described, user 16 may register in anyappropriate manner, for example, by facsimile, regular mail, ortelephone (possibly using an interactive voice response (IVR) system).

In general, website owner 12 is any entity responsible for at least oneaspect associated with website 26, for example only, financing,creation, editing, approval, review, implementation, administration, orany other suitable aspect associated with website 26. Owner 12 interactswith servers 14 and 18 as appropriate to set up and administer one ormore websites 26 hosted or otherwise supported on server 14, includingincorporating tool 30 into pages 28 and accessing any reportinginformation on feedback from users 16 concerning pages 28. Beforeallowing owner 12 to incorporate tool 30 and the associated softwarecomponents into pages 28, server 18 may require that owner 12 provideappropriate identification, billing, and other information; may notifyowner 12 that website 26 may be “crawled” to identify and gather datapertaining to pages 28; may provide owner 12 with a license agreement orother information concerning services being provided to owner 12; andmay communicate any other appropriate information with owner 12. Server18 may store some or all of the registration and setup informationdescribed above in one or more appropriate storage locations (notexplicitly shown) according to particular needs. Server 18 may alsoassign owner 12 an identifier and password for use in accessing reportsconcerning one or more particular pages 28 of website 26, as describedmore fully below. Although server 18 is described as handling theregistration of owner 12, owner 12 may register in any appropriatemanner, such as by facsimile, by regular mail, or by telephone (possiblyusing an interactive voice response (IVR) system).

After appropriate information has been communicated between owner 12 andserver 18 and, if desirable, verified in some appropriate manner, owner12 may use a wizard or other software component to download or otherwisecommunicate one or more pages 28 (or preferably copies of pages 28) ofthe website 26 from server 14 to the computer system of owner 12. Pages28 may be communicated to owner 12 using File Transfer Protocol (FTP) orin any other suitable manner, singly or as a group. Owner 12 mayspecify, for each page 28, the type of viewable icon the owner 12 wantsto appear on page 28, the color of the icon, or any other suitablecharacteristic of the icon. In one embodiment, characteristics of theicon may include one or more explicit questions concerning page 28,concerning one or more visual, audible, or other elements of page 28, orconcerning one or more items with which page 28 is logically associated.Where appropriate, the characteristics of the icon may include anyexplicit question, whether or not the subject of the question is relatedin some manner to page 28.

To specify an icon and its characteristics, as an example only and notby way of limitation, owner 12 might click on the desired icon, whichmight be one of multiple standard icons, and manipulate itscharacteristics using pull down menus. Owner 12 might then click on,drag and drop, or otherwise incorporate the desired icon into the localversion of the page 28. The incorporation might instead occurautomatically in response to owner 12 specifying characteristics of theicon. The wizard may create a dedicated or other suitable directorycontaining the script of tool 30 and, in addition, paste or otherwiseincorporate a call to the script in the software code of the page 28.Owner 12 may use the wizard or another software component to upload orotherwise communicate each modified page 28 (incorporating the tool 30)back to the server 14, singly or as a group, to replace correspondingprevious page 28 (not incorporating tool 30) within website 26. Theprocess through which owner 12 may incorporate tool 30 in one or morepages 28 provides an important technical advantage of the presentinvention. In one embodiment, incorporation of tool 30 in pages 28 freesusers 16 from needing to download separate software (separate fromaccessing page 28) or open a separate window to provide user feedbackusing tool 30, providing another important technical advantage.

Alternatively, server 18 might communicate tool 30 directly to server 14for automatic incorporation into pages 28. Less desirably, server 18might communicate to owner 12 a file containing the software code to beincorporated into the code of pages 28 and also containing the directorywith the script to be called when user 16 selects tool 30 to providefeedback. Owner 12 may download from server 14 or otherwise obtain alocal version of each page 28, manually edit each of the pages 28 bypasting in the appropriate software components, and then upload orotherwise communicate modified pages 28 (incorporating tool 30) back toserver 14, singly or as a group, to replace previous pages 28 (notincorporating tool 30) within website 26. As another alternative, thetool 30 might be incorporated into page 28 as page 28 is constructed,such as with an entirely new website 26 or when new content is added toan existing website 26.

Although a number of possible alternatives are described in detail, tool30 may be incorporated into pages 28 of website 26 in any suitablemanner without departing from the intended scope of the presentinvention. Moreover, although a web page 28 is primarily described, thepresent invention contemplates tool 30 being incorporated into orotherwise associated with an e-mail message, advertisement, GraphicsInterface Format (GIF) file, or other suitable collection of informationcommunicated to user 16, whether or not considered a web page 28. Anysuch collection of information incorporating tool 30 may be considered apage 28, where appropriate. For example, tool 30 may be incorporatedinto an HTML or other e-mail message (which may include one or moreattachments) communicated to user 16 and soliciting feedback from user16 concerning the content, delivery, or other aspect of the e-mail. Uponreceiving the e-mail message, user 16 might open the e-mail message,click on or otherwise select the icon to provide solicited feedback, andthereby cause user feedback information to be communicated to server 18for collection and reporting. Incorporating tool 30 into e-mail messagesmay be particularly useful in connection with bulk e-mail messages.Previously, feedback from users 16 concerning such messages has beenmeasured according to “click through” (or “conversion”) rates orresponse rates. However, such techniques do not provide diagnostic datareflecting whether the messages, offers in the messages, or otheraspects of the messages are good or bad in the eyes of users 16 or whysuch aspects of the messages are good or bad. In particular embodiments,an e-mail message may include an icon (near the bottom of the message orelsewhere) associated with tool 30 that solicits user feedback (whichmay include ratings, answers to explicit questions, comments, or othersuitable user feedback) concerning the message. Soliciting user feedbackconcerning bulk e-mail in this manner may provide a higher rate ofresponse and more useful information than previous techniques.

As still another possible alternative within the scope of the presentinvention, tool 30 may be embedded or otherwise incorporated into theuser's web browser rather than pages 28 to provide substantiallyequivalent functionality. In one embodiment, user 16 may download tool30, either as part of accessing a page 28 or directly, and perform anyappropriate subsequent operations to incorporate tool 30 into the webbrowser. Tool 30 may be installed each time user 16 accesses a page 28or may be installed the first time user 16 accesses a page 18 and remaininstalled until user 16 desires to uninstall the tool 30. If the tool 30is incorporated into the web browser rather than page 28, the viewableicon associated with tool 30 may appear in the “masthead” area of thebrowser window, may appear so as to obscure some or all of page 28within the browser window, or may appear in any other suitable locationand in any other suitable manner, according to particular needs.

As described more fully below, a user 16 may be allowed to provide oneor more page-specific comments regarding a page 28. For example, inresponse to user 16 selecting an icon associated with tool 30, a commentwindow may appear allowing user 16 to provide one or more page-specificcomments. Such a window may, in addition or as an alternative, appearautomatically independent of input from user 16. In addition or as analternative to allowing user 16 to provide one or more comments, user 16may be allowed to provide one or more answers to explicit questionsregarding page 28. For example, a comment window that may appear inresponse to user 16 selecting an icon associated with tool 30 mayinclude one or more explicit questions regarding page 28. Tool 30 maygenerate the comment window, receive comments, answers to questions, orboth from user 16, and communicate the received feedback to reportingserver 18. In certain embodiments, as described more fully below, user16 may be encouraged, or even required, to provide a page-specificrating to provide comments or answers to explicit questions regardingpage 28. The comments or answers may be correlated with and evaluated inview of the associated ratings to provide deeper and more usableinformation regarding page 28.

In addition or as an alternative to tool 30 generating a comment windowlocally at a computer associated with user 16, tool 30 may automaticallyrequest a comment window from a remote server separate from a web server14 hosting a website 26, such as reporting server 18. The remote servermay be operated by an entity separate from an owner 12 of page 28. Inresponse to the request, the remote server may generate the requestedcomment window and communicate it to tool 30, which may then present thecomment window to user 16. A server remote from tool 30 generating thecomment window may provide one or more advantages. For example, owner 12may access a secure area of the remote server to customize the commentwindow, for all pages 28 or for particular pages 28, without modifyingpages 28 or a browser of user 16. Owner 12 may customize the commentwindow in any suitable manner. For example, owner 12 may specify text inthe comment window soliciting comments or answers to explicit questionsin the comment window, one or more colors in the comment window, or anyother suitable aspect of the comment window. After owner 12 hascustomized the comment window, owner 12 may be allowed to test thecomment window. For example, owner 12 may indicate a desire to test thecomment window and, in response, page 28 may be communicated to owner12. Owner 12 may then test the comment window, for example, by selectingan icon associated with tool 30 to cause the comment window to appear.As a result, owner 12 may be able to substantially immediately determinehow customizations of the comment window will appear to users 16. Aftertesting the comment window, owner 12 may commit the customizations ormake changes to the customizations and retest the comment window asappropriate.

In particular embodiments, tool 30 may be incorporated into a computersystem of a user 16 such that tool 30 need not be incorporated into apage 28 for user 16 to provide feedback concerning page 28. For example,tool 30 may be incorporated into a web browser or other softwarecomponent of a computer system of user 16, and user 16 may access page28 and provide feedback concerning page 28 without tool 30 beingincorporated into page 28 (and thus without modifications being made topage 28). For example, a website owner 12 or a competitive or otherresearcher acting on behalf of a website owner 12 may instruct one ormore users 16 to access one or more particular pages 28 of one or moreparticular websites 26 of one or more particular owners 12 and providefeedback concerning pages 28. By tool 30 being incorporated intocomputer systems of users 16, tool 30 need not be incorporated intopages 28 for users 16 to provide such feedback. This may be particularlyuseful, for example, where an owner 12 wishes to collect feedbackconcerning a website 26 of a competitor without the competitor beinginvolved in the competitive research or even being made aware that suchfeedback is being collected. An owner 12 may also collect feedbackconcerning a website 26 of owner 12 to test new website designs or forany other suitable purpose. As another example, this may also be usefulwhere law enforcement or regulatory personnel wish to investigate anowner 12 of a website 26 for violations of one or more laws orregulations, for example, false or misleading advertising or productdescriptions. As yet another example, this may be useful where an owner12 wishes to ascertain whether users 16 consider one or more marks beingused by a competitor on a page 28 to be confusingly similar to one ormore trademarks of owner 12.

As described above, tool 30 may automatically request a comment windowfrom a remote server separate from a web server 14 hosting a website 26,receive the requested comment window from the remote server, and presentthe received comment window to a user 16. Where tool 30 is incorporatedinto a computer system of user 16 for research or other purposes asdescribed above, tool 30 may thus automatically request comment windowsfrom a remote server for user 16 to provide feedback concerning accessedpages 28. A server remote from tool 30 generating the comment window mayprovide one or more advantages. Where a user 16 is accessing pages 28 atthe direction of an owner 12 or a researcher acting on behalf of owner12, for example, the owner 12 or researcher may access a secure area ofthe remote server to customize comment windows for providing feedbackconcerning pages 28 without modifying pages 28 (which may be impracticalwhere the feedback concerning a website 26 must be collected without anowner 12 of website 26 being involved in the research or even being madeaware that such feedback is being collected) or a computer system ofuser 16. The comment window may be customized in any suitable manner.For example, owner 12 or the researcher acting on behalf of owner 12 mayspecify text in the comment window soliciting comments or answers toexplicit questions in the comment window, one or more colors in thecomment window, or any other suitable aspect of the comment window.After owner 12 or the researcher has customized the comment window,owner 12 or the researcher may be allowed to test the comment window.For example, owner 12 or the researcher may indicate a desire to testthe comment window and, in response, page 28 may be communicated toowner 12 or the researcher. Owner 12 or the researcher may then test thecomment window, for example, by selecting an icon associated with tool30 to cause the comment window to appear. As a result, owner 12 or theresearcher may be able to substantially immediately determine howcustomizations of the comment window will appear to users 16. Aftertesting the comment window, owner 12 or the researcher may commit thecustomizations or make changes to the customizations and retest thecomment window as appropriate.

Periodically or in response to receiving feedback information from auser 16 concerning one or more particular pages 28 of website 26,collection module 42 of server 18 may perform a “crawl” to identify thepages 28 that are associated with website 26 (and possibly otherwebsites 26) and incorporate tool 30. Based on this information, thecollection module 42 may generate a map or other suitable reportconcerning the topography of website 26 and store the map in a database44, which may include one or more storage locations integral to orseparate from database 36, database 40, and server 18. In oneembodiment, the pages 28 are parsed to identify their titles, URLs, andother suitable information for use in generating the map. Reportingmodule 46 uses the map to generate reports concerning the pages 28 ofwebsite 26, which might be linked to one another according to thetopography of website 26 as described more fully below with reference toFIG. 9. Owner 12 may subsequently modify one or more pages 28 of website26 according to the subjective ratings or other feedback received fromusers 16 (and possibly their demographic profiles), as reflected in thereports, to improve the pages 28 or better tailor the pages 28 forparticular categories of users 16.

In some cases, owner 12 may be an organization and different personswithin the organization might be responsible for different sets of oneor more pages 28 of website 26. This may be an especially likelyscenario when the owner 12 is a large company and website 26 includes alarge number of pages 28. In one embodiment, when owner 12 isregistering with server 18, owner 12 is requested to provide the e-mailaddress or other contact information for each such person, to identifypages 28 for which the person is responsible, and specify contactcriteria. The information may be stored in a storage location (notexplicitly shown) at or otherwise accessible to server 18. The contactcriteria may apply to all the pages 28 for which the person isresponsible or for one or more selected pages 28. For example, thecontact criteria might specify that if a page 28 receives five negativeratings within a specified time period, the person associated with thatpage 28 will be automatically informed using the stored e-mail address.Moreover, if a user 16 provides comments using the icon associated witha page 28, the comments may be automatically communicated to the personassociated with that page, as the comments are received or periodicallyas a group. The present invention contemplates any suitable threshold orother contact criteria, according to particular needs.

In the operation of system 10, owner 12 interacts with servers 14 and 18as appropriate to register the owner 12 and download or otherwiseincorporate tool 30 into one or more pages 28 of website 26. The user 16accesses a particular page 28 incorporating tool 30 during a browsersession and uses tool 30 to provide general or specific feedbackconcerning page 28. In one embodiment, if user 16 has not previouslyaccessed any page 28 incorporating tool 30 during the browser session,tool 30 may determine an Internet Protocol (IP) or other electronicaddress for the computer system associated with user 16 and, whentechnically feasible, determine a hostname for the computer system. Thispreferably allows user feedback to be associated with a particularcomputer system coupled to network 20. Tool 30 may attempt to store acookie, token, or other appropriate message including a browser sessionidentifier on the user's computer system, using the user's web browseror in any other manner. Each time user 16 accesses another page 28incorporating tool 30 during the browser session, tool 30 may accessthis stored message and respond accordingly.

In response to user 16 providing general or specific feedback concerningpage 28, tool 30 may also attempt to store on the user's computer systema cookie, token, or other message that includes a feedback useridentifier, which tool 30 may access as appropriate during the remainderof the browser session. The tool 30 may store the feedback useridentifier on the user's computer system, possibly along with the timeand date at which user 16 provided the feedback. After user 16 providesfeedback concerning page 28, tool 30 may cause a previously viewableicon associated with tool 30 to become unviewable on page 28 for theremainder of the browser session (if user 16 returns to page 28), for aslong as user 16 remains on page 28, for a specified time period, orotherwise. As a result, user 16 may be allowed to provide feedbackconcerning page 28 only once, for example, during a browser session or aspecified time period, which may make the reported results moremeaningful.

For example, if tool 30 causes the icon to become unviewable on a firstpage for which user 16 provided feedback, user 16 accesses a second page28, and user 16 later returns to first page 28 during the same browsersession, then tool 30 may recognize this based on the stored messageincluding the feedback user identifier and prevent the icon fromappearing on first page 28 for this and any other subsequent accesses offirst page 28 during the browser session. Alternatively, tool 30 mightallow the associated icon to remain viewable and might receivesubsequent feedback from user 16 concerning first page 28, but mightsimply ignore such subsequent feedback. Of course, tool 30 may simplyreceive from user 16 and process all the feedback concerning aparticular page 28, whether or not feedback is received from user 16concerning page 28 during the same browser session or during a specifiedtime period. In one embodiment, the cookies, tokens, or other messagesthat tool 30 stores on the user's computer system, including at leastthe browser session identifier and feedback user identifier, may expirewhen user 16 closes the user's web browser.

In one embodiment, user 16 is asked to provide demographic informationthe first time the user 16 provides feedback concerning a page 28associated with a website 26 supported on server 14 and incorporatingtool 30. If user 16 provides the requested demographic information, tool30 and server 14 communicate the information to the server 18 forstorage in database 40. Tool 30 may also assign a demographic useridentifier and store it on the user's computer system in the form of acookie, token, or other suitable message. In one embodiment, this allowsreports to be generated that reflect the demographic information,correlating it to user feedback information, and gives owner 12 furthervaluable information regarding pages 28 of website 26. The demographicuser identifier is preferably the same as the feedback user identifierto allow the feedback information and demographic information to bereadily associated with one another. As discussed above, demographicinformation linked to feedback information may be used correlate thefeedback information with one or more other metrics that are similarlylinked to demographic information.

If user 16 previously provided demographic information and accepted theassociated cookie, token, or other message with the demographic useridentifier, tool 30 determines this each time user 16 accesses anotherpage 28 of website 26, during the same or a different browser session.Ideally, user 16 is requested to and does provide the demographicinformation the first time user 16 accesses a page 28 that incorporatestool 30. However, if user 16 elects not to provide some or all requesteddemographic information, tool 30 may again invite user 16 to providedemographic information in response to user 16 selecting tool 30 toprovide subsequent feedback concerning the same or a different page 28.Tool 30 might stop requesting the demographic information, at least fora specified period, after a specified number of refusals so as not tounduly alienate the user 16 or deter user 16 from providing feedbackconcerning pages 28 or from even accessing pages 28.

User identifiers for user 16 may also be used for a variety of othersuitable purposes. For example, according to a user identifier stored asa cookie, token, or other message on the user's computer system, tool 30may cause a particular question to be presented to user 16 in responseto user 16 providing feedback. As a more particular example, every tenthtime the user 16 selects tool 30 to provide feedback concerning anassociated page 28, tool 30 might cause a question to appear invitinguser 16 to indicate (in addition to providing feedback) whether user 16is a customer of website 26 or its owner 12. User 16 might be given anopportunity to provide comments in addition to answering “Yes” or “No.”Such questions could be presented in response to the user 16 actuallyproviding feedback using tool 30, instead of merely selecting tool 30.

In response to user 16 providing general or specific feedback concerninga page 28, tool 30 may store the feedback temporarily in memory on thecomputer system associated with user 16 before instructing the computersystem to communicate the feedback to server 18. Tool 30 may alsocollect the time and date at which user 16 provided the feedback. Tool30, using the user's computer system, may communicate user feedbackinformation for page 28 to server 18 before or after user 16 leaves page28. In one embodiment, feedback information may include the title, URL,start time and date, feedback time and date, user feedback, and feedbackuser identifier, in any combination and without limitation. Feedbackinformation may additionally include “web profile” information for theuser 16, such as the IP address, hostname, username, password, networkconnection, operating system, web browser, screen resolution, plug-ins,or any other appropriate aspects of the user's environment. A feedbackuser identifier may be used to track feedback from a particular userover time or for any other suitable purpose. Tool 30 may compute thetime user 16 spent on page 28 before providing feedback or may leavethis task for server 18 to perform.

Server 18 receives and accepts the feedback information. This mayinclude determining the title, URL, feedback from user 16, and feedbackuser identifier; computing the time user 16 spent on the page 28 beforeproviding the feedback; and other appropriate operations. In oneembodiment, server 18 attempts to match the received feedback useridentifier with a stored demographic user identifier and, according tothe match, associate the demographic information with the feedbackinformation. The server 18 stores some or all of the feedbackinformation, preferably in association with the demographic information,in database 36 for use in generating reports accessible to owner 12.Server 18 may communicate a message to user 16, through the user's webbrowser or otherwise, to inform user 16 that the feedback wassuccessfully received. As multiple users 16 provide feedback concerningpages 28 as they navigate through website 26 according to itstopography, a wealth of information concerning pages 28 may be assembledand later provided to owner 12 for use in improving particular pages 28and thus website 26 as a whole. To access one or more reports reflectingthis information, the owner 12 communicates report requests to server 18and, in response, receives the requested reports.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example web page 28 incorporating user feedbackmeasurement tool 30. In one embodiment, as described above, tool 30provides a mechanism for measuring feedback from users 16 concerningpage 28 that is standardized across some or preferably all pages 28 ofwebsite 26, is readily identifiable by users 16, and is intuitive,predictable, and thus easy for users 16 to use in providing feedbackconcerning pages 28. In a more particular embodiment, the tool 30appears to users 16 as a language-independent icon 50, viewable on page28 within the user's browser window, that periodically or continuouslyspins, flips, switches, animates, or otherwise alternates between “(+)”and “(−)” symbols, “[+]” and “[−]” symbols, “+” and “−” symbols, or anyother suitable variation of plus and minus symbols.

For example only and not by way of limitation, parentheses around theplus and minus symbols may meet (or nearly meet) above and below theplus and minus symbols to resemble a capital “O” or oval. Analogously,square brackets around the plus and minus symbols may meet (or nearlymeet) above and below the plus and minus symbols to resemble a square.Furthermore, although variations of plus and minus symbols are primarilydescribed, any suitable stationary or animated icon 50 may be used torepresent the association of tool 30 with page 28, and the opportunityto provide feedback, without departing from the intended scope of thepresent invention. Preferably, icon 50 is the same or substantially thesame across all pages 28 of website 26 and, more preferably, pages 28 ofother websites 26. This may contribute to the icon 50 becoming a readilyidentifiable and well accepted standard throughout the community of allusers 16 of websites 26.

Typically, only a portion of page 28 will be viewable within browserwindow 52 at any one time as user 16 scrolls or otherwise navigatesthrough page 28. In one embodiment, icon 50 appears at or near aspecified location relative to the border 54 of browser window 52 in theviewable portion of page 28. Icon 50 may remain in substantially thesame location relative to border 54 as user 16 scrolls or otherwisenavigates through page 28. Alternatively, icon 50 might be located inthe masthead region 56 of the browser window and remain in mastheadregion 56 as the user 16 scrolls or otherwise navigates through page 28.Causing icon 50 to remain in substantially the same location withinbrowser window 52 may help encourage user 16 to provide feedbackconcerning page 28 using tool 30, and make it easier for user 16 to doso. This feature may further contribute to icon 50 becoming readilyidentifiable and well accepted throughout the user community.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, in response to the user 16 rolling anassociated mouse pointer over icon 50, pointing to and clicking on icon50 using the mouse pointer, touching icon 50 using an associated touchscreen, or selecting icon 50 in another suitable manner, icon 50 maychange into or be replaced with a multi-level subjective rating scale 60that corresponds to general feedback measurement tool 32. In aparticular embodiment, rating scale 60 includes five levels ranging fromvery negative to very positive, each level having an associatedlanguage-independent or other appropriate symbol 62. For example andwithout limitation, a “−” symbol 62 might correspond to a very negativerating, a “−” symbol 62 might correspond to a somewhat negative rating,a “+−” symbol 62 might correspond to a neutral rating, a “+” symbol 62may correspond to a somewhat positive rating, and a “++” symbol 62 maycorrespond to a very positive rating. Although a five level rating scale60 is described above in connection with a particular embodiment, anyappropriate multi-level or other subjective rating scale or scheme maybe used without departing from the intended scope of the presentinvention.

To record general feedback concerning page 28, the user 16 clicks on,points to, or otherwise selects an appropriate symbol 62 reflective ofthe feedback. In response, tool 32 (or tool 30) may store the userfeedback information and, at the appropriate time, cause the feedbackinformation to be communicated to server 18 for storage in database 36.In a particular embodiment, the user feedback information collected inresponse to user 16 providing general feedback concerning the page 28may include, in any suitable combination and without limitation: (1) thetitle of page 28; (2) the URL for page 28; (3) the feedback useridentifier; (4) the subjective rating (for example only, “++,” “+,”“+−,” “−,” or “−−”); (5) the time and date page 28 was accessed; (6) thetime and date the subjective rating was received; (7) the web profileinformation for user 16; and (8) any other suitable information.According to the demographic user identifier, if one is available atserver 18, the demographic information for user 16 may be stored inassociation with the user feedback information in database 36, asdescribed more fully above.

Where appropriate, feedback concerning page 28 collected using tools 30and 32 may include responses to one or more explicit questions posed tothe user 16 concerning page 28, concerning one or more visual, audible,or other elements of page 28, or concerning one or more items with whichpage 28 is logically associated. Questions may be presented instead ofor in addition to rating scale 60. As an example, a page 28 of a vehiclemanufacturer's website 26 may include a picture of a particular make andmodel of vehicle. Questions posed to user 16 using tool 30 or 32, inresponse to the user 16 selecting icon 50, might include “How well doyou like this picture?” or “Do you like the shape of the tail fin?” forexample. The responses to the questions might be received using ratingscale 60, similar to collection of user feedback concerning page 28described above, or might be received using a color or other suitablescale. For example, user 16 might select a green box, dot, or othervisual element to provide a “Yes” response, might select a white box,dot, or other visual element to provide a “neutral” response, and mightselect a red box, dot, or other visual element to provide a “No”response. Each question may appear within a banner, bar, flag, or othervisual element in response to user 16 selecting icon 50, in response touser 16 providing feedback concerning page 28 using tool 30, 32, or 34,or otherwise. A particular color, shape, or other indicia associatedwith the element may always signify the same question, regardless of thepage 28 on which it appears. For example only, a green element mightalways signify the question, “Do you consider the price of this itemfair?” A particular question may be posed in response to the user 16providing a particular subjective rating of the page 28 or a particularresponse to a previous question, the question presented being dependentupon the previous response. According to the present invention, one ormore questions may be associated with any one or more pages 28 ofwebsite 26 according to the particular needs of owner 12, providing animportant technical advantage. In particular embodiments, differentquestions may be associated with different pages 28 of a website 26. Forexample, an owner 16 of website 26 may specify one or more firstquestions regarding a first page 28 of website 26, one or more secondquestions regarding a second page 28 of website 26, one or more thirdquestions regarding a third page 28 of website 26, and so on.

Some or all of the stored information concerning page 28 may be providedto owner 12 in the form of one or more suitable reports to allow owner12 to assess the success of the particular page 28 in the eyes of theuser community. As described more fully above with reference to FIG. 1,icon 50 may cease to be viewable in browser window 52 after generalfeedback concerning page 28 has been received from user 16. Although inone embodiment only tool 32 (not tool 34) may be viewable on page 28 inresponse to selection of tool 30, the present invention contemplatestool 34 being visible on page 28 instead of or in addition to tool 32.

In one embodiment, a question mark or other symbol 64 may be associatedwith rating scale 60 to allow user 16 to provide comments relating topage 28, one or more specified aspects of page 28, one or more itemsassociated with page 28, or any other appropriate comments. Symbol 64might further allow user 16 to receive help or other informationrelating to tool 30, tool 32, tool 34, or system 10. For example, asillustrated in FIG. 4, a window 65 may appear with rating scale 60 inresponse to user 16 selecting symbol 64. Alternatively, rating scale 60incorporating window 65 might appear in response to user 16 initiallyselecting icon 50, without requiring user 16 to first select symbol 64.Furthermore, as described more fully below with reference to FIG. 6, apop-up window containing rating scale 60 associated with tool 32, one ormore rating scales associated with tool 34, and a field to receive thecomments or help requests may be presented to the user 16 in response touser 16 selecting symbol 64, selecting icon 50, or otherwise.

As illustrated in FIG. 5, in response to the user 16 rolling anassociated mouse pointer over icon 50, pointing to and clicking on icon50 using the mouse pointer, touching icon 50 using an associated touchscreen, or selecting icon 50 in another appropriate manner, icon 50 maychange into or otherwise be replaced with set 70 of one or moremulti-level rating scales 72 corresponding to specific feedbackmeasurement tool 34. Each of the rating scales 72 is used to measure thefeedback of user 16 concerning a specified aspect of the particular page28, according to the same or a different multi-level rating scale as fortool 32. For example only and not by way of limitation, tool 30 may haveseparate rating scales 72 for measuring the feedback from user 16concerning the content, design, usability, or other suitable aspects ofpage 28, singly or in any appropriate combination. As described above,feedback concerning page 28 may include responses to one or moreexplicit questions concerning page 28, concerning one or more elementsof page 28, concerning one or more items with which page 28 is logicallyassociated, or concerning other subject matter possibly unrelated topage 28.

In one embodiment, as for rating scale 60 of tool 32, each rating scale72 includes five levels ranging from very negative to very positive,each level having an associated language-independent or other suitablesymbol 74. For example only, a “−−” symbol 74 might correspond to a verynegative rating, a “−” symbol 74 might correspond to a somewhat negativerating, a “+−” symbol 74 might correspond to a neutral rating, a “+”symbol 74 may correspond to a somewhat positive rating, and a “++”symbol 74 may correspond to a very positive rating. Although five levelrating scales 72 are described, any suitable multi-level or othersubjective rating scale or scheme may be employed without departing fromthe intended scope of the present invention. Each rating scale 72 oftool 34 may be substantially the same or may be differentiated fromother rating scales 72 on one or more bases, for example, through theuse of color, shading, shape, or other characteristic. Preferably,rating scales 72 are substantially similar to or otherwise consistentwith rating scale 60 to maintain predictability, consistency, andacceptance within the user community.

To record specific feedback concerning page 28, the user 16 clicks on,points to, or otherwise selects an appropriate symbol 74 reflective ofthe feedback. In response, tool 34 (or tool 30) may store correspondinguser feedback information and cause the user feedback information to becommunicated to server 18 for storage in database 36. In a particularembodiment, the feedback information collected in response to user 16providing specific feedback concerning page 28 may include, in anycombination and without limitation: (1) the title of page 28; (2) theURL for page 28; (3) the feedback user identifier; (4) the subjectiveratings (for example only, “++,” “+,” “+−,” “−,” or “−”); (5) the timeand date the page 28 was accessed; (6) the time and date the subjectiveratings were received; (7) web profile information for user 16; and (8)any other appropriate information. According to the demographic useridentifier, if one is available at server 18, the demographicinformation for user 16 may be stored in association with the userfeedback information in database 36, as described above. Tool 34 mayrequire multiple ratings to be provided, one for each rating scale 72,before such information is stored.

One or more rating scales 72 may appear substantially simultaneously, ina suitable sequence, or in any other relative manner. For example, asucceeding rating scale 72 might appear only in response to a user 16providing specific user feedback using a preceding rating scale 72.Whether the succeeding rating scale 72 appears at all might depend onthe nature of the specific feedback provided using the preceding ratingscale 72. One or more child rating scales 72 may be nested with respectto a parent rating scale 72 on which child rating scales 72 dependwithin a hierarchy. One or more rating scales 72 may appear instead ofor in addition to rating scale 60 and may appear before, substantiallysimultaneous with, or after rating scale 60. For example, one or morerating scales 72 might appear only in response to user 16 providinggeneral feedback using rating scale 60, or the rating scale 60 mightappear only in response to user 16 providing specific feedback using oneor more rating scales 72. Other suitable alternatives may be envisionedand the present invention is intended to encompass all suchalternatives. In a particular embodiment, the rating scales 72 mayrotate in their respective positions each time they appear to reduce oreliminate any response bias that might otherwise manifest itself as aresult of the arrangement of rating scales 72.

Some or all of the stored information concerning page 28 may be providedto owner 12 in the form of one or more suitable reports to allow owner12 to assess the success of the particular page 28 in the eyes of theuser community. As described more fully above with reference to FIG. 1,icon 50 may cease to be viewable in browser window 52 after specificfeedback concerning page 28 has been received from user 16. Although inone embodiment only tool 34 (not tool 32) is visible on the page 28 inresponse to selection of tool 30, the present invention contemplatestool 32 being visible on page 28 instead of or in addition to tool 34.

In one embodiment, as described above, a question mark or other symbol64 may be associated with the set 70 of rating scales 72 to allow theuser 16 to provide comments relating to the page 28, one or morespecified aspects of page 28, one or more items associated with page 28,or other appropriate comments. Symbol 64 might further allow user 16 toreceive help or other information relating to tool 30, tool 32, tool 34,or system 10. For example, a window similar to the window 65 of FIG. 4may appear with rating scales 72 in response to user 16 selecting symbol64. Alternatively, rating scales 72 incorporating such a window mightappear in response to user 16 initially selecting icon 50, withoutrequiring user 16 to first select symbol 64. Moreover, as illustrated inFIG. 6, a pop-up window 78 containing rating scale 60 associated withtool 32, one or more rating scales 72 associated with tool 34, and afield 79 to receive comments or help requests might be presented to user16 in response to user 16 selecting symbol 64, selecting icon 50, orotherwise. The present invention contemplates any technique forreceiving comments or other textual input from user 16 in associationwith a particular page 28.

Comments from users 16 regarding a page 28 may be of greater use to anowner 12 when ratings of the page 28 are provided by users 16 inconnection with the comments. Such ratings may allow owner 16 to morereadily prioritize, categorize, or otherwise manipulate such commentsfrom users 16. In particular embodiments, a user 16 may be encouraged oreven required to provide one or more ratings of a page 28 when user 16provides one or more comments regarding page 28. A required rating mayinclude a rating reflecting a general reaction of user 16 to page 28, arating reflecting a reaction of user 16 to a specified aspect (such as,for example, content, design, or usability) of page 28, or any othersuitable rating. User 16 may be required to provide one or more ratingsof page 28 in any suitable manner. For example, when user 16 attempts tosubmit a comment regarding page 28, one or more rating scales may bepresented to user 16 soliciting one or more ratings of page 28 from user16 in connection with the comment. If user 16 does not provide one ormore solicited ratings, user 16 may be prevented from submitting thecomment.

Comments from users 16 regarding a page 28 may also be of greater use toan owner 12 when background data is obtained from users 16 in connectionwith the comments. Such data may include data reflecting hardware,software, or other details concerning a computer system of a user 16.For example only and not by way of limitation, certain background datamay reflect the operating system of the computer system, the screenresolution of the computer system, a browser of the computer system, orany other aspects of the computer system. In addition or as analternative, background data may include data reflecting time spent by auser 16 on a page 28, a referring page 28 (which may include a page 28that user 16 accessed immediately before accessing a current page 28),or other details concerning a web session of a user 16. In addition oras an alternative, background data may include data reflecting a useridentifier that may identify user 16, the computer system of user 16, orboth and may be used to track feedback of user 16 over time. Where acomment is used to communicate one or more technical problems user 16 isexperiencing with page 28, background data obtained from user 16 inconnection with the comment may facilitate identification of the problemby an owner 12 and possibly one or more solutions to the problem.Although a particular use of background data is described, the presentinvention contemplates background data being used in any suitable mannerfor any suitable purpose.

Background data from users 16 may be obtained in any suitable manner. Inparticular embodiments, such data may be obtained automatically from acomputer system of user 16. For example, tool 30 may obtain backgrounddata from one or more components of the computer system when user 16accesses a page 28. In addition or as an alternative to obtainingbackground data automatically from a computer system of user 16,background data may be directly solicited from user 16. As an example,window 78 may ask user 16 one or more questions regarding appropriatebackground data and request user 16 to provide answers to the questionsin field 79 along with one or more comments, select from a number ofpossible answers to the questions in one or more pull-down menus, selectfrom a number of boxes that each correspond to a possible answer to oneor more of the questions, or provide answers to the questions in anyother suitable manner.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example registration page 80 that may be sent touser 16 in response to user 16 providing general or specific feedbackconcerning at least one page 28 of a website 26. Alternatively, user 16may select a hypertext or other link within or associated with icon 50,rating scale 60, ratings scales 72, or window 78. The registration page80 includes one or more suitable input fields 82 for receivingdemographic information from user 16, which is then used to create auser profile for user 16 that is stored in database 40. In oneembodiment, demographic information collected from user 16 may include,for example only and not by way of limitation, in any suitablecombination: (1) a name; (2) an e-mail or other electronic address; (3)a residence, business, or other physical address; (4) a password; (5) agender; (6) an age or age range; (7) a job title, position, profession,industry, or other employment information; (8) an employment status (forexample, full-time, part-time, student, or retired); (9) number ofpersons in household; (10) a housing status (for example, homeowner orrenter); (11) a highest level of education; (12) personal or householdincome or income range; (13) information concerning one or moreactivities of user 16, such as computer usage patterns and preferences;and (14) any other appropriate demographic information.

In one embodiment, as described above with reference to FIG. 1, afterserver 18 receives demographic information sufficient to establish auser profile for user 16, server 14 assigns a demographic useridentifier to the user 16 and associates this demographic useridentifier with the corresponding user profile in database 36. Thedemographic user identifier is stored on the user's computer system (inthe form of a cookie, token, or other message) in response to the user16 providing requested demographic information. In response to user 16subsequently selecting tool 30 to provide feedback, tool 30 recognizesuser 16 according to the stored demographic user identifier and mayconvey a suitable message to indicate this recognition. For example, thetool 30 may replace the icon 50 with a personalized message (such as“Thanks, [name]”) in response to user 16 providing general or specificfeedback concerning a particular page 28. This message may be transient,disappearing after a specified time period, or may remain viewable inbrowser window 52 while the user 16 remains on the page 28. Thedemographic user identifier preferably matches the feedback useridentifier for the user 16, which allows feedback information anddemographic information to be readily associated with one another atserver 18. As described above, demographic information linked tofeedback information may also facilitate the correlation of feedbackinformation to other suitable metrics that are linked to demographicinformation.

As discussed above, website 26 may have a “topography” according topages 28 of website 26 and the relationships between the pages 28. Inone embodiment, system 10 provides owner 12 with the ability to accessand readily navigate through reports, which provide rating informationfor pages 28 of website 26, in a similar manner as user 16 accessespages 28 while navigating through website 26 according to the topographyof website 26. Furthermore, the reports allow owner 12 to readily focuson pages 28 that are of most interest. For example only, and not by wayof limitation, owner 12 may be particularly interested in accessingfeedback information for any pages 28 that generated a significantpercentage of very negative feedback, whether the feedback is general orspecific. As another example, owner 12 may be particularly interested inreviewing feedback information for any pages 28 that generated asignificant percentage of very positive feedback from users 16 havingspecified demographic characteristics. The information is communicatedto owner 12 from server 14, upon request, in the form of one or moresuitable reports. Upon obtaining this information, which was unavailableusing previous techniques, owner 12 may respond to improve website 26and, quite possibly, the success of an associated business or otherenterprise.

FIGS. 8 through 9 illustrate example reports 100 for one or more pages28 of website 26. Reports 100 are intended to provide the owner 12 witha readily understandable view of feedback concerning a particular page28, a set of particular pages 28, or website 26 as a whole (consideringall pages 28). As described above, feedback concerning page 28 mayinclude responses to one or more explicit questions about page 28, oneor more elements of page 28, one or more items with which page 28 islogically associated, or any other suitable subject. Reports 100 mayreflect only feedback collected during a specified time period or mightreflect all feedback collected since tool 30 was incorporated into theparticular page 28 or pages 28 that reports 100 concern. As an example,reports 100 for successive time periods might allow owner 12 to identifytrends in the feedback information and to respond appropriately. Reports100 may reflect only feedback collected from users 16 having a specifieduser profile or one or more specified demographic characteristics, ormay reflect all feedback collected for the particular page 28 or pages28 of interest. The present invention contemplates one or more reports100 to provide the owner 12 with any information collected using tools30, 32, or 34, in a format appropriate for owner 12.

In one embodiment, owner 12 may request that one or more particularreports including particular data be communicated to one or moreparticular e-mail addresses or other suitable locations at particulartimes. This may provide one or more advantages where owner 12 includesan organization including a number of different people having differentresponsibilities within the organization. For example, a person withinthe organization may be responsible for one or more pages 28 of awebsite 26 of owner 12. Owner 12 may request that a report includingdata reflecting user feedback concerning the pages 28 for which theperson is responsible be communicated to an e-mail address of the personevery at specified time intervals (e.g., three hours), after receivingfeedback from a specified number of users 16 (e.g. one hundred), oraccording to other suitable contact criteria. In addition, owner 12 mayrequest that such reports include data that reflects only negativeratings of pages 28, comments containing one or more specified words, orany other subset of the data.

Reports 100 may be filtered according to any suitable filter criteriasuch that they include data reflecting particular user feedback. Forexample only and not by way of limitation, an owner 12 may request thatone or more reports communicated to owner 12 include only datareflecting negative ratings. As another example, an owner 12 may requestthat one or more reports communicated to owner 12 include only datareflecting user feedback for the twenty pages 28 of a website 26receiving the most negative feedback according to average ratingsreceived from users regarding pages 28. Although particular filtercriteria are described, any suitable filter criteria may be used tofilter reports 100.

As shown in FIG. 8A for a website 26 as a whole, ratings table 102 mayinclude a timeframe 104 during which the feedback of ratings table 102was collected. A website overview 106 might include, in any combinationand without limitation: (1) the number of ratings for all pages 28 ofwebsite 26 (generally or as to one or more specific aspects); (2) thenumber of one or more specified types of ratings for all pages 28, suchas the number of negative ratings (generally or as to one or morespecific aspects); (3) the number of unrated pages 28 among all pages 28(where user 16 accessed page 28 incorporating tool 30 but did notprovide a rating); (4) the number of positively rated pages 28(generally or as to one or more specific aspects) among all the pages 28(which might include, for example, both positive ratings and verypositive ratings according to rating scale 60 or 72 described above);(5) the number of neutrally rated pages 28 (generally or as to one ormore specific aspects) among all of the pages 28; (6) the number ofnegatively rated pages 28 (generally or as to one or more specificaspects) among all pages 28 (which may include, for example, bothnegative ratings and very negative ratings according to rating scale 60or 72); (7) the number of ratings for the page 28 with the most ratingsor most ratings of a specified type, such as the most negative ratings(generally or as to one or more specific aspects); (8) the number ofcomments received in connection with all pages 28; (9) and any othersuitable rating information concerning website 26, considering all thepages 28. In the alternative, the ratings table 102 might providesimilar information concerning one or more particular pages 28.

In one embodiment, a site detail 108 may provide any of the site levelrating information described above in a more visually appealing andreadily interpretable manner. The site detail 108 may provide a“sliding” or other appropriate scale 110 indicating, for a selectedcategory of site level rating information, the percentages of ratingsthat are negative, neutral, and positive. For example, the site detail108 may include a sliding scale 110 for a “usability” aspect of pages28. Sliding scale 110 might include a first portion 112 a indicating thepercentage of negative ratings as to usability, a second portion 112 bindicating the percentage of neutral ratings as to usability, and athird portion 112 c indicating the percentage of positive ratings as tousability. More or fewer portions 112 that reflect finer or coarserrating variations may be provided according to particular needs.Portions 112 may be differentiated from one another using color,shading, or other suitable indicia. For example only, first portion 112a may be red, second portion 112 b may be black, and third portion 112 cmay be green. The present invention contemplates providing site levelrating information to owner 12 in any suitable format.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8A, report 100 reflects feedbackinformation for website 26 using a chart 124 having a ray, arrow, bar,or other line 126 for each page 28 of website 26. The lengths 128 oflines 126 along scale 130 represent the total number of ratings receivedfor the corresponding pages 28. Chart 124 may be substantially circularat least in part, as illustrated, with lines 126 that extend outwardfrom its center 132, or may have any other suitable shape. As anexample, as illustrated in FIG. 8B, chart 124 may include a “flat”version of chart 124 having a scale 130 in the direction of a first axis134 and lines 126 extending in the direction of the first axis 134 froma second axis 136 that is perpendicular to the first axis 134. Thoseskilled in the art will readily appreciate that other suitable schemesfor representing the ratings associated with a particular page 28,including color for example, may be used without departing from theintended scope of the present invention. In one embodiment, when a mousepointer is rolled across the tip of line 126 or line 126 is otherwiseselected, the title of, the URL for, a link to, a report concerning, orother information relating to corresponding page 28 appears instead of,on top of, near, or otherwise in association with line 126. If a reportfor page 28 is generated, the report may replace report 100, similar tothe manner in which a newly accessed page 28 may replace a previouslyaccessed page 28 within a user's browser window.

In one embodiment, referring again to FIG. 8A, chart 124 may include anumber of regions 138, as an example, negative region 138, neutralregion 138, and positive region 138. The position of line 126 relativeto regions 138 may reflect the average rating for associated page 28 (orother mathematical operation on ratings for associated page 28). Forexample only and without limitation, if the ratings on five level ratingscale 60 are assigned values of “1” through “5” with “1” being for avery negative rating, the average value for page 28 might be “2.5” andthe corresponding line 126 might be positioned near the border betweennegative and neutral regions 138. Regions 138 may each have the same orno color, each region 138 may have a different color, or the colors ofregions 138 may transition smoothly across regions 138. Instead of or inaddition to colored regions 138, lines 126 may be colored according totheir positions relative to regions 138. For example only and withoutlimitation, line 26 reflecting an average rating of “1.4” might besubstantially red, a line 26 reflecting an average rating of “3.3” mightbe substantially black, and line 26 reflecting an average rating of“4.2” might be substantially green. Color may be used in any suitablemanner to convey feedback information for one or more pages 28 ofwebsite 26.

According to the above, if multiple pages 28 have the same averagerating, their lines 126 will overlap on chart 124. To avoid confusion insuch cases, shorter lines 126 in such a group (having fewer ratings) mayterminate in a white circle rather than a colored circle or may bedifferentiated in any other suitable manner from the longest line 126 inthe group (having the most ratings) and from each other. Such adifferentiator may also be desirable where lines 126 do not have thesame average rating, and thus do not precisely overlap, but have ratingssimilar enough to make lines 126 difficult to distinguish from oneanother. In one embodiment, pages 28 having a substantially neutralaverage rating but bimodal distributions (according to any suitableformula) may be represented using lines 126 that terminate in a redcircle rather than a black circle or are differentiated in anothersuitable manner from any other lines 126 that reflect substantiallyneutral average ratings. For any subjective rating described above, thepresent invention contemplates the rating being according to ratingscale 60, one or more rating scales 72, or any other appropriate ratingscale. Ratings for one scale, scale 60 for example, may be distinguishedfrom ratings for another scale, scale 72 for example, using any suitablevisual indicator in the same or a different chart 124, according toparticular needs.

As discussed, instead of or in addition to reflecting feedbackinformation for one or more particular pages 28 of website 26, chart 124may reflect feedback information for website 26 as a whole using asingle line 126 that takes into account all pages 28 of website 26. Forexample, and not by way of limitation, chart 124 may include coloredregions 138 as described above and a single line 126 having a lengthreflecting the number of ratings for all the pages 28 of website 26,according to scale 130, and having a position reflecting the averagevalue of ratings for all pages 28 of website 26. Such a line 126 forwebsite 26 as a whole may be superimposed on chart 124 having lines 126for particular pages 28 of website 26, may be within a separate windowof chart 124, or may have any other suitable spatial relationship tochart 124 having lines 126 for particular pages 28 of website 26.Furthermore, such lines 126 may be used to represent the average ratingvalue for multiple websites 26 on the same chart 100, for example, someor all websites 26 associated with a particular owner 12. Websites 26for which chart 100 reflects average rating values may be selectedaccording to their owners 12, the industries with which the websites 26are associated, or other suitable selection criteria.

Benchmarks may be established and reflected in report 100, along withthe average rating values for one or more websites 26, for purposes ofcomparison. For example, as discussed above, report 100 may reflect anoverall rating for website 26 according to the average (or othermathematical operation) of ratings for pages 28 of website 26. Overallratings for other websites 26 that are associated with the same industryor otherwise comparable with the particular website 26 may be generatedin an analogous manner. Comparing the overall rating for the particularwebsite 26 with the overall ratings of other websites 26, singly or as agroup, may provide valuable information to owner 12. Furthermore,overall ratings for multiple websites 26 may be evaluated in some mannerto generate a website index value for each website 26 relative to othercomparable websites 26. In one embodiment, such a website index might beupdated once a month or otherwise to allow owner 12 to readily track theoverall performance of website 26 relative to its peers. An overallrating assigned to website 26 in the manner described above, accordingto subjective ratings for pages 28 of the website 26, may provide owner12 with more meaningful information about the effectiveness of website26 than collecting subjective ratings that each concern only website 26as a whole.

In one embodiment, report 100 may also include a chart 140, integral toor separate from chart 124, providing a percentage or other relativeportion of pages 28 of website 26 that have been rated. For example, andwithout limitation, if chart 124 is substantially circular asillustrated in FIG. 8A, chart 140 may be located in a sector of chart124 to allow the owner 12 to appreciate the information in charts 124and 138 substantially simultaneously. The percentage of other relativeportion of rated pages 28 may be indicated using a scale 142 oraccording to the amount 144 of the chart 140 that is colored, filled, orotherwise indicated as corresponding to that percentage or otherrelative portion. Providing site level rating information to the owner12 in an integrated and readily understandable manner using report 100is an important technical advantage of the present invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example report 150 for a particular page 28 ofwebsite 26. Similar to report 100 for website 26 as a whole, report 100for page 28 may include ratings table 152 having a timeframe 154 duringwhich the feedback of ratings table 152 was collected. A page overview156 may include, in any suitable combination and without limitation: (1)the number of ratings for page 28 (generally or as to one or morespecific aspects); (2) the number of one or more specified types ofratings for page 28, such as the number of negative ratings (generallyor as to one or more specific aspects); (3) the number of positiveratings for page 28 (generally or as to one or more specific aspects),which may include both positive ratings and very positive ratingsaccording to rating scale 60 or 72; (4) the number of neutral ratingsfor the page 28 (generally or as to one or more specific aspects); (5)the number of negative ratings for page 28 (generally or as to one ormore specific aspects), which may include both negative ratings and verynegative ratings according to rating scale 60 or 72; (6) the number ofcomments received in connection with page 28; (7) and any other suitablerating information concerning page 28.

In one embodiment, page detail 158 may provide any of the page levelrating information described above in a more visually appealing andreadily interpretable manner. The page detail 158 may provide a“sliding” or other appropriate scale 160 indicating, for a selectedcategory of page level rating information, the percentages of ratingsthat are negative, neutral, and positive. For example, the page detail158 may include a sliding scale 160 for the “usability” aspect of page28. Sliding scale 160 may include a first portion 162 a indicating thepercentage of negative ratings as to usability, a second portion 162 bindicating the percentage of neutral ratings as to usability, and athird portion 162 c indicating the percentage of positive ratings as tousability. More or fewer portions 162 that reflect finer or coarserrating variations may be provided according to particular needs.Portions 162 may be differentiated from one another using color,shading, or other suitable indicia. For example only, first portion 162a may be red, second portion 162 b may be black, and third portion 162 cmay be green. The present invention contemplates providing page levelrating information to the owner 12 in any appropriate format.

In one embodiment, report 150 reflects feedback information for page 28using a chart 164 having a scale 166 in the direction of a first axis168 and a set of bars, boxes, banners, or other lines 170 extending inthe direction of first axis 168 from a second axis 172 that isperpendicular to the first axis 168. The position of a line 170 alongsecond axis 172 reflects the type of rating line 170 represents. Thelength of line 170 according to scale 166 reflects the number of ratingsof that type for page 28.

The present invention contemplates chart 164 being “flat” as shown,being substantially circular similar to chart 124 shown in FIG. 8A, orhaving any other suitable configuration. In one embodiment, owner 12 maymove from report 100 to any associated report 150 or to another report100 for another website 26, may move from any report 150 to associatedreport 100, or may move in any other appropriate manner between reports100 and 150 in assessing the feedback information for one or morewebsites 26 and their pages 28.

One or more portions of a report 150 for a page 28 may include hypertextor other suitable links to comments from users 16 regarding page 28. Inparticular embodiments, for example, a rating line 170 representing aparticular rating received from one or more users 16 may include a linkto one or more comments regarding page 28 received from users 16 inconnection with the particular rating. An owner 12 may select the link,read one or more comments, and attempt to determine one or more reasonsfor the particular rating. In particular embodiments, as anotherexample, report 150 may include an area in which received comments fromusers 16 regarding page 28 are tallied and grouped according to ratingsreceived from users 16 in connection with the comments. Such an area mayinclude one or more links to the comments. As described above,background data may be obtained from users 16 in connection withcomments from users 16. Such data may also be presented to owner 12 inany suitable manner. For example, when owner 12 accesses a comment froma user 16 regarding a page 28, background data obtained from user 16 maybe presented to owner 12 with the comment independent of owner 12 makinga specific request for such data.

In particular embodiments, a report 150 may include one or more countsof one or more words, which may be specified by an owner 12, appearingin one more comments from users 16 regarding page 28. Report 150 mayinclude one or more hypertext or other suitable links to one or morecomments from users regarding page 28 in which the one or more wordsappear. In addition to a report 150 for particular page 28 including oneor more word counts, a report for an entire website 26 may include oneor more counts of one or more words, which may be specified by an owner12, appearing in one or more comments from users 16 regarding one ormore pages 28 across website 26. Monitoring the appearance of certainwords in comments regarding a particular page 28 or in commentsregarding one or more pages 28 across a website 26 in this manner mayenable an owner 12 to more readily track, interpret, and respond whereappropriate to feedback concerning one or more particular aspects ofpage 28 or website 26.

A report 150 for a particular page 28 may provide hypertext or othersuitable links to reports 150 for other pages 28 that may be linked tothe particular page 28 according to the unique topography of website 26.For example, if a first page 28 allows users 16 to access either asecond page 28, a third page 28, or a fourth page 28, report 150 for thefirst page 28 might similarly allow owner 12 to access at least thereports 150 for the second page 28, for the third page 28, and for thefourth page 28. Report 150 for the first page 28 might further allowowner 12 to access the parent page 28 of the first page 28; that is, thepage 28 at an adjacent higher level within a hierarchical topography ofwebsite 26 from which user 16 might navigate to the first page 28. Inone embodiment, reporting module 46 generates reports 150 “on the fly”in response to specific requests received from the owner 12 usingnetwork 20. For example, reporting module 46 might access one or moredatabases 36, 40, and 44 to generate report 150 in response to owner 12clicking on, pointing to, or otherwise selecting a link to a second page28 while viewing report 150 for a first page 28. Reporting module 46,through reports 150, allows owner 12 to navigate through feedbackinformation pertaining to the pages 28 of website 26 in much the samemanner that users 16 navigate through the pages 28 of website 26 whenaccessing website 26 for their needs, according to the topography ofwebsite 26, providing an important technical advantage.

Instead of or in addition to reports 100 and 150, reports may beprovided to owner 12 according to one or more points of view that relateto rating distribution, rating values, rating submission, ratingdemographics, or other suitable criteria for one or more pages 28. Forexample, and not by way of limitation, such reports may include: (1) areport of the distribution of ratings (number of ratings for each ratingvalue) for a page 28 overall, for page 28 for a specified demographicprofile (such as all women), or for page 28 for a target demographicprofile of owner 12 (such as all women over 65 years old that live inChicago and own their residence); (2) a report ranking, for one or moredemographics (such as age), the top one or more categories (such as18-25 year old) for those demographics in terms of percentage of ratingsprovided, percentage of ratings provided of a specified type, or anyother suitable rating information; (3) a report of the percentageoccurrence of each rating value (or one or more selected rating values)for one or more demographics (such as age) or one or more demographiccategories (such as 18-25 year old); (4) a report of the number or thepercentage of ratings (or ratings of one or more specified types) versusthe submission time and date (or time and date range); (5) a report ofthe distribution of ratings sorted according to the time spent on page28 before rating submission; (6) a report of the top one or more IPaddresses for users 16 submitting ratings for a time and date (or timeand date range); and (7) any other suitable report reflecting feedbackinformation, demographic information, and any other collectedinformation, according to particular needs. Although such point of viewreports are described as being separate from reports 100 and 150,reports 100 and 150 may convey similar information. In one embodiment,for example, a particular point of view report might resemble report 150illustrated in FIG. 9.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example method of incorporating tool 30 into oneor more particular pages 28 of website 26. The method begins at step200, where owner 12 communicates a download or other suitable request toserver 18 (shown in FIGS. 10 through 12 as “system server 18” todistinguish it from server 14, shown in FIGS. 10 through 12 as “websiteserver 14”). At step 202, server 18 prompts owner 12 to provideidentification, billing, and any other suitable registration and setupinformation. At step 204, owner 12 communicates the requestedinformation to the server 18 (whether or not the server 18 is local toor distributed from owner 12). Server 18 may also notify owner 12 thatwebsite 26 may be crawled to identify and gather data pertaining topages 28, may provide owner 12 with a license agreement and otherinformation concerning the services to be provided to owner 12, or maycommunicate any other suitable information with owner 12. At step 206,server 18 may assign an owner identifier and password to owner 12 toallow the owner 12 to access reports 100. Server 18 stores theregistration and setup information for owner 12 in an appropriatestorage location (not explicitly shown) at step 208 to completeregistration and setup of owner 12.

At step 210, to incorporate tool 30 into one or more pages 28 of website26, owner 12 downloads or otherwise communicates pages 28 (or copies ofpages 28) from server 14 to the owner's computer system, preferablyusing a suitable wizard or other software component designed tofacilitate the incorporation process. At step 212, owner 12 specifies,for each page 28, the type (for example, spinning between “(+)” and“(−)”), color, or any other appropriate characteristic of the desiredicon 50 for page 28. For example and without limitation, the owner 12may click on desired icon 50, which might be one of multiple standardicons 50, and modify one or more characteristics of icon 50 usingsuitable pull down menus. As described above, the characteristics of theicon might include one or more explicit questions concerning page 28,concerning one or more visual, audible, or other elements of page 28, orconcerning one or more items with which page 28 is logically associated.Desired icons 50 are incorporated into local versions of pages 28 atstep 214, singly or as a group. For example and not by way oflimitation, owner 12 may click on, drag and drop, or otherwiseincorporate desired icons 50 into the local version of pages 28, singlyor as a group. Alternatively, the incorporation might occurautomatically in response to owner 12 simply specifying characteristicsof icon 50.

Owner 12, through the wizard or in any other suitable manner, may createa separate directory containing a JAVASCRIPT or other script embodyingtool 30 at step 216 and, at step 218, may paste or otherwise incorporatea suitable call to the script into the software code of the localversion of page 28. After the tool 30 is incorporated into the localversions of pages 28, owner 12 may use the wizard to upload or otherwisecommunicate modified pages 28 (now incorporating tool 30) to server 14at step 220, singly or as a group, to replace corresponding pages 28(not incorporating tool 30) in website 26. While an particular exampleembodiment is described in detail, tool 30 may be incorporated into oneor more pages 28 of a website 26 in any suitable manner withoutdeparting from the intended scope of the present invention. For example,as an alternative, server 18 may communicate tool 30 and associatedsoftware components directly to server 14 for automatic incorporationinto pages 28, in response to a download request from owner 12. Afterthe pages 28 incorporating tool 30 are then uploaded to server 14, themethod ends. Tool 30 is communicated with page 28 to user 16 in responseto user 16 accessing page 28 during a browser session.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example method of measuring feedback of user 16to one or more particular pages 28 of website 26. The method begins atstep 300, where user 16 establishes a connection to server 14 to accessa particular page 28 of website 26 incorporating tool 30. At step 302,server 14 communicates page 28, with incorporated tool 30, to user 16and, at step 304, a separate directory containing the script associatedwith tool 30 is installed in some appropriate manner on the user'scomputer system. If page 28 is the first page 28 incorporating tool 30that the user 16 has accessed during the browser session at step 306,tool 30 attempts to determine at step 308 the IP or other electronicaddress for the user's computer system and, when technically feasible,the hostname for the user's computer system. At step 310, the tool 30attempts to store a cookie, token, or other appropriate message on theuser's computer system, through the user's web browser or otherwise,containing the session identifier for the browser session. At step 312,tool 30 may also store the time and date at which user 16 accessed thepage 28. At step 306, if page 28 is not the first page 28 incorporatingtool 30 that user 16 has accessed during the browser session, the methodmay proceed directly to step 312. The present invention contemplatessteps 304 through 312 occurring in any appropriate order, according toparticular needs.

At step 314, user 16 rolls an associated mouse pointer over icon 50,points to and clicks on icon 50 using the mouse pointer, touches icon 50using an associated touch screen, or otherwise selects tool 30 toprovide feedback concerning the particular page 28. As described morefully above, a multi-level subjective rating scale 60 associated withtool 32 may request user 16 to provide general feedback concerning page28, one or more multi-level subjective rating scales 72 associated withtool 34 may request the user 16 to provide specific feedback concerningpage 28, rating scale 60 and one or more rating scales 72 may appear incombination to request a combination of general and specific feedbackconcerning page 28, or feedback concerning page 28 may be requested inany other suitable manner. In one embodiment, as described above,feedback concerning page 28 may include one or more responses toexplicit questions posed to user 16 concerning page 28, concerning oneor more elements of page 28, or concerning one or more items with whichpage 28 is logically associated. Such questions may be presented to user16 instead of or in addition to a rating scale 60 or 72. At step 316,user 16 provides feedback using a suitable combination of tools 30, 32,and 34.

If tool 30 determines at step 318 that user 16 has not previouslyprovided demographic information, based on the absence on the user'scomputer system of a cookie, token, or other message including ademographic user identifier, the tool 30 may prompt user 16 to providesufficient demographic information using registration page 80 at step320. If user 16 provides requested demographic information at step 322,tool 30 attempts to store a cookie, token, or other suitable messageincluding a demographic user identifier on the user's computer system atstep 324. Tool 30 may communicate the demographic information anddemographic user identifier to server 18 at step 326 for storage indatabase 40. Alternatively, the tool 30 may wait to communicate thedemographic information together with feedback information describedbelow. At step 328, tool 30 attempts to store a cookie, token, or othersuitable message including a feedback user identifier on the user'scomputer system, preferably the same as the demographic user identifierdescribed above. If tool 30 determines at step 318 that user 16previously provided demographic information (in the same or in aprevious browser session), based on there being a cookie, token, orother suitable message including a demographic user identifier stored onthe user's computer system, the method may proceed directly to step 328.Step 328 may occur before, during, or after steps 318 through 326, asappropriate.

At step 330, tool 30 temporarily stores feedback information on thecomputer system of user 16 and instructs the computer system tocommunicate the feedback information to server 18. In one embodiment,the feedback information for page 28 may include, in any suitablecombination and without limitation, the title, the URL, the start timeand date, the feedback time and date, the feedback, the feedback useridentifier, and web profile information. Tool 30 may continue to storethe feedback user identifier for determining, in response to the user 16subsequently accessing the particular page 28, that user 16 has alreadyaccessed the particular page 28. Tool 30 communicates feedbackinformation, using the computer system of user 16, to server 18 at step332. At step 334, tool 30 may cause an icon 50 to become unviewable onthe particular page 28 for the remainder of the browser session, untiluser 16 leaves the page 28 (being viewable again if user 16 returns tothe page 28 during the browser session), or for any other suitableperiod.

At step 336, server 18 manipulates and stores feedback informationreceived from tool 30. For example, server 18 may compute the time spenton the page 28 before user 16 provided the feedback. Server 18 storesany such computed feedback information, together with suitable feedbackinformation received from tool 30, in database 36. If the receivedfeedback information included a feedback user identifier, server 18 mayattempt to match the feedback user identifier with a demographic useridentifier stored in database 40, to allow the server 18 to associatethe demographic information for user 16 with the feedback information indatabase 36. If user 16 has closed the web browser to terminate thebrowser session at step 338, the cookies, tokens, or other messagesstored on the user's computer system containing the session identifierand feedback user identifier may expire at step 340, and the methodends. If user 16 instead accesses another page 28 that incorporates tool30 during the browser session, the method returns to step 300.

FIG. 12 illustrates an example method of reporting to owner 12 userfeedback concerning one or more particular web pages 28 of a website 26.The method begins at step 400, where collection module 42 may perform acrawl or otherwise identify the pages 28 of website 26 incorporatingtool 30. At step 402, collection module 42 may parse pages 28 toidentify their titles, URLs, and any other appropriate information. Atstep 404, the collection module 42 may generate a map or other reportconcerning the topography of website 26 and, at step 406, store the mapin the database 44. At step 408, owner 12 communicates a report requestto server 18 and, at step 410, the reporting module 46 prompts owner 12to specify one or more criteria for use in generating the requestedreport 100. Owner 12 provides the requested report criteria at step 412.

The report criteria may include, for example and not by way oflimitation: (1) whether a ratings table 102 or 152 is to be displayed;(2) the desired information that is to appear in the ratings table 102or 152; (3) whether a chart 124 or 164 is to be displayed, instead of orin addition to ratings table 102 or 152, respectively; (4) the type ofchart 124 or 164 to be displayed (for example, chart 124 of FIG. 8A orchart 124 of FIG. 8B); (5) the desired information to appear in chart124 or 164; (6) how the desired information is to be displayed in chart124 or 164 (for example, specifying the use of color for regions 138 andlines 126); (7) whether chart 140 is to be displayed, instead of or inaddition to ratings table 102 or chart 124; (8) a point of view for thereport 100 or 150 (for example, specifying one or more demographiccharacteristics to which the report 100 or 150 is to be limited, one ormore time periods to which report 100 or 150 is to be limited, or anyother suitable points of view); and (9) any other suitable reportcriteria.

At step 414, reporting module 24 accesses the map for website 26 storedin database 44, feedback information for pages 28 stored in database 36,and possibly demographic information for users 16 stored in database 40.As described above, the demographic information relating to particularfeedback information may be stored in association with the feedbackinformation, in database 36 for example, when feedback information isreceived and processed. As a result, the reporting module 46 may notneed to access database 40 to generate report 100 or 150. At step 416,reporting module 46 then generates the requested report 100 or 150,concerning one or more particular pages 28 of website 26, according tothe specified report criteria. In one embodiment, reporting module 46generates report 100 or 150 on the fly in response to the specificreport request from owner 12, without having previously stored report100 or 150. At step 418, the reporting module 46 then communicates therequested report 100 or 150 to owner 12.

If the owner 12 wishes to access another report 100 or 150 at step 420,the method returns to step 412, where the owner 12 provides new reportcriteria. In a particular embodiment, report 100 or 150 may providehypertext or other appropriate links that, when selected, causereporting module 46 to generate a new report 100 or 150 according to theselected link. The present invention contemplates owner 12 specifyingnew report criteria through selection of such a link, in the manner thatowner 12 specified the original report criteria, or in any otherappropriate manner. Preferably, owner 12 may navigate through at leastreports 150 in substantially the same manner that users 16 mightnavigate through various pages 28 of website 26, according to thetopography of website 26. As described above, this feature provides animportant technical advantage of the present invention. Steps 412through 420 may be repeated as many times as necessary or desirable tosatisfy the needs of the owner 12. If the owner 12 does not wish toaccess another report 100 or 150 at step 420, the method ends.

Although the present invention has been described with severalembodiments, a plethora of changes, substitutions, variations,alterations, and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in theart, and it is intended that the invention encompass all such changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications as fall withinthe spirit and scope of the appended claims.

1. A system for receiving page-specific user feedback concerning aparticular web page of a website, comprising: a comment icon viewable onthe particular web page and soliciting one or more page-specificopen-ended comments concerning the particular web page from a user thathas accessed the particular web page; and software associated with thecomment icon and operable to: in response to the user selecting thecomment icon, automatically communicate a request for a comment windowto a remote computer system that is separate from a computer systemhosting the website, the comment window allowing the user to provide theone or more page-specific open-ended comments concerning the particularweb page; receive the comment window from the remote computer system;present the comment window to the user; and receive the one or more ormore page-specific open-ended comments concerning the particular webpage from the user for reporting to a website owner, the one or morepage-specific open-ended comments concerning the particular web pagebeing provided using the comment window.
 2. The system of claim 1,further comprising an input icon viewable on the particular web pageindependent of input from the user subsequent to the user accessing theparticular web page, the input icon soliciting page-specific feedbackconcerning the particular web page from the user independent of inputfrom the user subsequent to the user accessing the particular web page,the input icon operable to receive user input indicating a desire toprovide page-specific feedback concerning the particular web page, theuser input causing the comment icon to become viewable on the particularweb page.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the software associated withthe icon is incorporated into software of the particular web page andthe user need not download software separate from the particular webpage to provide the one or more page-specific open-ended commentsconcerning the particular web page.
 4. The system of claim 1, whereinthe comment window is customizable by the website owner without thewebsite owner modifying the particular web page.
 5. The system of claim4, wherein the website owner may customize the comment window byspecifying one or more of: text in the comment window; one or moreimages in the comment window; and one or more colors in the commentwindow.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the software associated withthe icon is incorporated into a web browser of the user.
 7. The systemof claim 1, wherein the comment window is customizable by the websiteowner without the website owner modifying the web browser of the user.8. The system of claim 1, wherein the comment window is particular tothe particular web page of the website, the particular web page beingone of a plurality of particular web pages of the website, the commentwindow for the particular web page being different from a comment windowfor at least one other particular web page of the website.
 9. A methodfor receiving page-specific user feedback concerning a particular webpage of a website, comprising: using a comment icon viewable on theparticular web page to solicit one or more page-specific open-endedcomments concerning the particular web page from a user that hasaccessed the particular web page; and using software associated with thecomment icon to: in response to the user selecting the comment icon,automatically communicate a request for a comment window to a remotecomputer system that is separate from a computer system hosting thewebsite, the comment window allowing the user to provide the one or morepage-specific open-ended comments concerning the particular web page;receive the comment window from the remote computer system; present thecomment window to the user; and receive the one or more or morepage-specific open-ended comments concerning the particular web pagefrom the user for reporting to a website owner, the one or morepage-specific open-ended comments concerning the particular web pagebeing provided using the comment window.
 10. The method of claim 9,further comprising using an input icon viewable on the particular webpage independent of input from the user subsequent to the user accessingthe particular web page to solicit page-specific feedback concerning theparticular web page from the user independent of input from the usersubsequent to the user accessing the particular web page, the input iconoperable to receive user input indicating a desire to providepage-specific feedback concerning the particular web page, the userinput causing the comment icon to become viewable on the particular webpage.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the software associated withthe icon is incorporated into software of the particular web page andthe user need not download software separate from the particular webpage to provide the one or more page-specific open-ended commentsconcerning the particular web page.
 12. The method of claim 9, whereinthe comment window is customizable by the website owner without thewebsite owner modifying the particular web page.
 13. The method of claim12, wherein the website owner may customize the comment window byspecifying one or more of: text in the comment window; one or moreimages in the comment window; and one or more colors in the commentwindow.
 14. The method of claim 9, wherein the software associated withthe icon is incorporated into a web browser of the user.
 15. The methodof claim 9, wherein the comment window is customizable by the websiteowner without the website owner modifying the web browser of the user.16. The method of claim 9, wherein the comment window is particular tothe particular web page of the website, the particular web page beingone of a plurality of particular web pages of the website, the commentwindow for the particular web page being different from a comment windowfor at least one other particular web page of the website.
 17. A systemfor receiving page-specific user feedback concerning a particular webpage of a website, comprising: means for soliciting one or morepage-specific open-ended comments concerning the particular web pagefrom a user that has accessed the particular web page; and means for: inresponse to the user selecting the comment icon, automaticallycommunicating a request for a comment window to a remote computer systemthat is separate from a computer system hosting the website, the commentwindow allowing the user to provide the one or more page-specificopen-ended comments concerning the particular web page; receiving thecomment window from the remote computer system; presenting the commentwindow to the user; and receiving the one or more or more page-specificopen-ended comments concerning the particular web page from the user forreporting to a website owner, the one or more page-specific open-endedcomments concerning the particular web page being provided using thecomment window.